The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Egúngún Masquerade Dance Costume

Egúngún Masquerade Dance Costume

1900s
cotton, velvet, flannel, dye, faux fur, leather, cowrie shells
Overall: 167.6 x 66 x 40.6 cm (66 x 26 x 16 in.)
Gift of Katherine C. White 1976.187
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The striped netting on the "face" of this masquerade costume allows the wearer to see out while keeping their identity concealed.

Description

Swirling into motion, egúngún masquerade costumes appear during annual festivities to bless the community. Manifesting ancestral spirits, they serve as a bridge between the living and the otherworld. The fabric panels create a dwelling place for ancestral spirits. Arranged and selected according to Yorùbá design sense (ojú-ọnà), this mask incorporates hundreds of African, Asian, and European fabrics. These include imported damasks, velvets, faux furs, and embroideries, as well as local indigo-dyed cottons.
  • ?-1977
    Katherine C. White
    1977-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art by gift
  • Aremu, P. S. O. "Between Myth and Reality: Yoruba Egungun Costumes as Commemorative Clothes." Journal of Black Studies 22, no. 1 (1991). p. 6-14 2784493.
    Fitzgerald, Mary Ann, Henry J. Drewal, and Moyo Okediji. "Transformation through Cloth: An Egungun Costume of the Yoruba." African Arts 28, no. 2 (1995) p. 55-57 undefined
    Drewal, Margaret Thompson. Yoruba Ritual: Performers, Play, Agency. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992.
  • Year in Review, 1976. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 1-March 6, 1977).
  • {{cite web|title=Egúngún Masquerade Dance Costume|url=false|author=|year=1900s|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1976.187